Dubravka eyed by Juventus and ‘top’ Bundesliga club

Newcastle United goalkeeper Martin Dubravka is a long-term target for one of the ‘top’ clubs in the Bundesliga, according to his agent.

The shot-stopper has been impressive for the Magpies since joining them midway through last season, establishing himself in Rafa Benitez’s starting line-up.

Dubravka is held in high esteem at St James’ Park and the player’s agent Pavel Zika has revealed that the club are desperate to tie him down to a new contract before the end of the season.

The goalkeeper’s current deal runs until 2022 but Newcastle appear keen to act quickly to secure the Slovakian international’s future, with interest from elsewhere building.

As quoted by Chronicle Live, Dubravka’s representative confirmed that Juventus are in the hunt to sign the player, alongside other clubs in the Premier League. He said:

We can confirm that Martin belongs to the Juventus scout department’s list of long-term players. However, we must mention that it is not only monitored by Pavel Nedved’s Juventus, but there are also Premier League clubs. Our personal tip with my brother is that Martin stays in England.

Our effort, but also Newcastle’s endeavour, is to negotiate a new contract at the end of this season, as Martin came to Newcastle as a virtually unknown Czech league player, but quickly became a major player of the entire team and already has an excellent reputation throughout the English league.

Zika also stated that despite Dubravka’s reluctance to make the switch to Germany, a highly-regarded Bundesliga club have been pursuing him for some time now. The agent said:

Even though interest in Martin from one of the top German Bundesliga clubs has been eminent over time, Martin has told us that he does not feel that his career is going to move towards Germany, that he would like to continue in England, which is the cradle of football and in which goalkeepers already historically privileged.